By Steven Allen Adams, The Intelligencer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The top attorney for an advocacy organization for West Virginians with disabilities accused the state Department of Health and Human Resources and Cabinet Secretary Bill Crouch of mismanagement and lack of transparency of state-run hospitals.
Members of the Joint Committee on Health heard a presentation Tuesday from Mike Folio, legal director for Disability Rights West Virginia, about issues his organization has uncovered at the William R. Sharpe Jr. Hospital in Weston. Tuesday was the last day of two-day legislative interim meetings that began Monday.
Since the mid-1970s, DRWV has been authorized by Congress as the state’s Protection and Advocacy System agency that provides third-party monitoring of state agencies that serve the disabled. DRWV is a nonprofit advocacy organization that serves as a watchdog for people with intellectual and physical disabilities.
“Under federal law, we have the duty, not just the right, to enter into facilities and monitor facilities to determine compliance with regulatory standards with the law,” Folio said…
To read more: https://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2022/12/practices-at-west-virginia-dhhr-run-hospital-questioned/